drunkenness, and every form of sensuality, what God the merciful and
wise has intrusted to man to be used for wise and merciful ends. But
even here there is already perceptible a marked difference between
those appetites and the more refined tastes alluded to; inasmuch
as the former are found in their abuse to be, strictly speaking,
unnatural, and destructive of man's happiness; and even in their
legitimate use they decay with advancing years, thus proving that
the stamp of time is upon them as on things belonging to a temporary
economy; whereas such tastes as those that enjoy the beautiful in
nature or in art, for example, abide in old age with a youthful
freshness, and more than a youthful niceness of discernment; and so
afford a presumption that they are destined for immortality. To the
aged saint "the trees clap their hands, the little hills rejoice, and
the mountains break forth into singing;" and when the earth is empty
of every other sentient pleasure, it is in the beauty of its sights
and sounds, still full to him of the glory of his God.

And so must it be for ever! The glorified saint is not "unclothed,"
but "clothed upon." He inhabits "a house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens." The future body is called a "spiritual body" to
express, I presume, its pure and immortal essence; for though it will
be somehow related to the present body,--as the risen is related to
the sown grain which has perished through corruption,--it must be
changed into a new and higher form. "Flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God." "We shall all be changed." "He shall change our
vile bodies, and fashion them like to His own glorious body." It is in
this new body, once sown in weakness, corruption, and mortality, but
raised at length in power, incorruption, and immortality, no more to
suffer, and no more to die, that we shall tread upon the new earth,
gaze on the new heavens, and walk in the paradise of our God.